Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Democracy right on track in Iraq

News from Iraq that doesn't involve anyone dying.

BAGHDAD (AP)-[off the wire, no link]-Despite the ongoing violence, Iraq's embattled government appeared to be making progress in moves to woo the country's Sunni Arab minority, which forms the core of the insurgency.

Many Sunnis boycotted the Jan. 30 election, meaning the community is not strongly represented in the new National Assembly.

On Monday, Dr. Adnan Al-Dulami, spokesman of the General Conference for Sunnis in Iraq, called on fellow Sunnis "to organize themselves to take part in the coming elections and to start to register their names at the offices of the electoral commission."

Al-Dulami said Sunni clerics would soon issue a religious decree repeating the call. Clerics spearheaded the January boycott, saying any election held with U.S. and other foreign troops in the country would be invalid.

Following al-Dulaimi's call, Humam Hammoudi, head of the committee to draft a new constitution, said 15 Sunnis had been approved to join the committee and would begin work Wednesday. The inclusion of Sunnis on the committee had been delayed because majority Shiites and Kurds had accused nominees of links to Saddam Hussein's Baath party.


Democracy is by nature a slow process, but the Iraqis continue to make great strides despite ongoing terrorist threats.